


ovwv^ 







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WILLIAM BURNET 



GOVERNOR OF NEW-YORK AND NEW JERSEY 



1720-1728 



A SKETCH OF HIS ADMINISTRATION IN NEW-YORK 



BY 

WILLIAM NELSON 



I 



NEW-YORK 
1892 



WILLIAM BURNET 



GOVERNOR OF NEW-YORK AND NEW JERSEY 



1720-1728 



A SKETCH OF HIS ADMINISTRATION IN NEW-YORK 



BY 

WILLIAM NELSON 



I 



NEW-YORK 

1892 






Twenty-five copies reprinted from Chapter V, Volume 11, 
of The Memorial History of the City of New-York, 
edited by General James Grant Wilson, 4 vols., royal 
octavo. New- York, 1892. 



?;.i 




VIEW OP NEW-YORK IN GOVERNOR BURNET S TIME. 



CHAPTER V 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF WTLLIAil BUENET 

1720-1728 




F the people of New- York had ever been accustomed to be 
consulted in the selection of their chief magistrates, it 
would have provoked them to learn that the proud posi- 
tion of governor of their great province was largely a 
matter of private barter and arrangement between individuals. 
Governor Hunter was suffering the tortures of sciatica, and de- 
spaired of improving in America.^ William Burnet had been light- 
ened in irarse by his ventures in the South Sea scheme,^ and wished 
to replenish his fortunes. The two were warm personal friends. So 
Hunter agi-eed to exchange his office of governor for Burnet's less 
lucrative but more convenient position of comptroller-general of the 
customs in Great Britain, with a salary of £1,200 per year.* Both 
had sufficient influence at court to secm-e the ratification of theii- 
bargain by the king, and presto! it was done. As an imjiartial his- 
torian remarks : " It iinfortunately happened for our American prov- 
inces at the time we now treat of, that a government in any of our 
colonies in those parts was scarcely looked upon in any other light 



1 •■ I have no hope of Ease on this Side, having 
try'd ail remedys. Christian and Pagan, Palenical. 
Chymieal and Whimsical, to no purpose. Aix-la- 
Chappelle is all my present Comfort." Hunter to 
Secretary Popple. New Jersey Archives. 4 : 387. 

2 Wynne's "British Empire" (London, 1770). 
1 : 181 ; •• History of the United States," by James 



Grahame (Boston, lSi,5), 3: 99; Smith's "History 
of New-York" (London. 1776), p. 201. 

3 Smiths "History New -York." p. 201; Doug- 
lass's " Summary " (London. 17.55). 1 : 480 ; Wynne, 
1 : 191, New-York paid her governor £1,200 ster- 
ling, and New Jersey paid £500 or £600 : the per- 
quisites were considerable in both provinces. 



152 



HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 



thau that of au hospital, where the favorites of the ministry might 
lie till they had recovered their broken fortunes ; and oftentimes they 
served as asylums from their creditors." ^ But it is not too much to 
say that no American colony had as yet been favored with so excel- 
lent an appointment as this of William Burnet to be "Captain Gen- 
eral and Governor in Chief of the Provinces of New-York, New 
Jersey and Territories thereon depending in America, and Vice Ad- 
miral of the same." The people were favorably disposed toward him, 

for it was only five years since the decease 
of his father, the eminent Gilbert Burnet, 
Bishop of Salisbury from 1689 to 1715, 
and they still cherished warmly the mem- 
ory of the distinguished prelate and states- 
man who had been so influential in seat- 
ing William and Mary on the throne of 
England, and thereby securing to Great 
Britain a succession of Protestant rulers. 
The new governor was himself named 
after the great Prince of Orange, having 
been born at The Hague in March, 1688, 
his namesake being the sponsor at his 
baptism." His early education was sn- 
pervised by his father and the celebrated 
philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, and he 
also had the advantage of meeting, both 
at home and abroad, the most eminent men of learning and the prin- 
cipal statesmen and com-tiers of the age, and still he confessed that 
he was nearly twenty years old before his father discovered any 
promise of intellectual development in him.'* Although but thirty- 
two years of age, the young governor was a widower, with a bright 
little boy of five or six years, named Gilbert, whom he brought with 
him to America.' The king made the appointment April 19, 1720 ; 
the instructions were prepared May 4, and sul:»mitted to the king 
May 31 ; ' and after various delays Burnet sailed from Portsmouth 
about July 10, arriving at New-York on September 16. His commis- 
sion was published the next day, with the usual popular demonstra- 
tions." He speedily discovered that the party which had always 
opposed Governor Hunter had made headway in the interregnum. 




-•'^\\ 



1 Wynne, 1: 191. 

2 ' ' New-York Genealogical and Biographical 
Becord," 6 : 6. 

3 Wliiteliead's "Perth Arahoy." p. 156. 

i " New England Historical Genealogical Regis- 
ter," 5: 49; N. J. Archives, 5: 261. His first 
wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. George Stan- 
hope, Dean of Canterbury. "Heraldic Journal," 
April, 1866, p. 61. 



5 Dr. Golden, forty years later, told a curious 
story about a clerk of the Board of Trade inter- 
polating a word iu the instructions. ("New-York 
Historical Society Collections," 1876. pp. 13.3, 136, 
203 ; " Documents relating to Colonial History of 
New-York," 5 : 476. 499). But the story was incor- 
rect. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y.. 5 : 483. 

GDoe. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5: 536-8, 572, 573; 
N. J. Archives, 5:3; 11: 52-4. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 153 

and as a shrewd stroke of policy he decided to summon the old 
assembly again, instead of ordering a new election. This course was 
contrary to the custom in such cases, and George Clarke, the sec- 
retary of the province, at the same time deputy auditor for Horace 
Walpole, advised against it.' However, his course seemed to be vin- 
dicated, for when the legislature met in the old Fort George at the 
Battery on October 13, 1720, he addressed them in a speech admirable 
in tone, and they promptly responded with an appropriation for " an 
ample and honorable support for His Majesty's Government for five 
years," and promised " to make up any deficiencies that by unforeseen 
accidents might happen to it," and they added this handsome com- 
pliment : " We believe that the son of that worthy Prelate, so Emi- 
nently Instrumental under our glorious Monarch, William the third, 
in delivering us from Arbitrary Power, and its concomitants Popery, 
Superstition and Slavery, has been Educated in and possesses those 
Principles that so Justly recommended his Father to the Councils 
and Confidence of Protestant Princes and succeeds our former Gov- 
ernour, not only in Power, but Inclinations to do us good."- 

The governor urged upon the legislature the impoi'tance of resist- 
ing the inroads of the French upon the frontiers, of repairing the 
forts, and putting the militia in the best condition for service. In 
response they made an appropriation to enable him to repair the 
fortifications and build new ones, and to provide the ways and means 
therefor they passed another act levying a duty of two per cent, on 
all European goods imported into the province, which, as might have 
been expected, was disallowed by the king. But the most important 
measure of the session for far-reaching consequences was an act pro- 
hibiting the sale of Indian goods to the French;'' For a century and 
a half the French had been pushing their religious and commercial 
influence among the Indians west of Quebec to the Mississippi Eiver, 
undftterred by any obstacles and allowing nothing to interfere with 

iDoc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5: 572, 573, 765; ister for so many years. Burnet seems to have 
N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1868, p. 207. George relied on the friendship of the Duke of Newcastle, 
Clarke, an English lawyer, had come to New- York a rival of Sir Robert. (Cose's " Memoires of Sir 
in July, 1703, with a commission as secretai-y of EobertWalpole"; Mahon's" History of England,'' 
the province. He was appointed a member of Vol. II.) Thus the internal affairs of the province 
the GouneU in 1715, and sworn in May 30, 1716. of New-York were closely intertwined with the 
(Council Minutes, 11 : 352). Horace Walpole hav- intrigues of the ministers at home. When the 
ing been appointed auditor of the province, in Duke of Newcastle succeeded in driving Walpole 
1718 appointed Clarke his deputy (lb., 503|, who to France aud Carteret to Ireland, and as.sumed 
in consequence tried to control the revenues, the the State Ofllce liimself. Burnet became judicious- 
object apparently being merely to exact a tribute ly friendly to Clarke, and helped him to secure 
of five per cent, commission on all the moneys £2500 commissions on the current revenues of 
raised. The assembly oVijected to this, and di- the province and arrears. Doc. rel. Col. Hist, 
rected the treasurer to account only to the gov- N. Y., 5 : 765. 

ernor and council and assembly. It is evident 2 Journal Legislative Council. 1 : 451-3. Smith 

that there was considerable friction between the (p. 202) says that the assembly's address was 

governor aud Clarke from the outset. (Cal. N. Y. di'awn up by Chief Justice Lewis Morris. 

Hist. MSS.. 2: 401, -175.) Clarke was in constant 3 Journal Legislative Council, as cited; Doc. 

correspondence with Horace Walpole, brother of rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5: 577, 703. 
Sir Robert Walpole. England's great prime min- 



154 HISTOBT OF NEW-YOEK 

their steady piu'pose of acquiring control over the savages. French 
traders came regularly to New- York and bought the bulk of the 
Indian supplies imported from England — strouds' and duft'els princi- 
pally — and cari'ied them to Quebec and thence disposed of them to 
the Indians, who had been accustomed for generations to look upon 
Quebec as the principal mart for such goods. In this way the French 
ascendancy over the Indians was gi-eatly and continually extended. 
Governor Burnet, with a far-seeing eye, perceived this, and, having 
the glory of England in view, secured the passage of this act by the 
legislature, whereby it was absolutely forbidden to sell any such 
goods to the French upon anj^ terms, under a penalty of the forfeiture 
of the goods sold and a fine of one hundred pounds. Suspected per- 
sons could be put upon oath as to whether or not they had %'iolated 
the law, and compelled to answer under pain of heavy fines or im- 
prisonment. This was the weak feature of the law, being contrary to 
all English principles of justice, which did not suffer a man to be 
forced to criminate himself. There was another aspect of the subject. 
Under the old system, the trade in Indian goods at New- York was 
engi-ossed by a few; by this course he caused it to pass into the hands 
of many. Furthermore, the Indians became more dependent on the 
English than formerly. Prior to this it had been usual for nine hun- 
di-ed pieces of " stroiids " to be carried in one year from Albany to 
Montreal,- where they had sold at a little over thirteen pounds a piece. 
After the act, pieces sold at Albany for ten pounds, while the price 
at Montreal had gone up to twenty-five pounds.^ No wonder the 
governor was jiroud of his great success with this first session of 
the legislature under his administration. 

He was equally successful in New Jersey, where he secured an act 
providing a five years' support for his government. In thanking the 
New Jersey legislature, he said in his frank and manly way: "I can- 
not but acknowledge in the most particular manner the acts for the 
chearful and honourable support and for the security of his Majesty's 
Government in this Pro\ance. I cannot but say that I look upon the 
latter as the noblest of the two; as I think honour is always more than 
riches." ^ The New- York assembly had been unanimous in supporting 
the governor, but Peter Schuyler (the jwesident of the council), Adolph 
Philipse, and five others were strenuous for a new assembly, which, 
after a hot debate, the governor declined to order, and threatened the 
exposure of Schuyler and Philipse for having violated the king's in- 
structions,' whereupon Schuyler and four others asked and were given 
leave to retui'u to their homes. But the governor immediately wrote 

1 "Strouds. — a wooUen manufacture established 4 Smith's "New Jersey,'' p. 417. 

at Stroud, England." Wynne, 1 : 19S. » President Schuyler had allowed Philipse to 

2 Douglass. 2 : 258. have the custody of the provincial seal. N. Y. 

3 Smith's "New Jersey," p. 213. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1SC8. p. 206. 



THE ADMINISTBATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 



155 




to England, urging that Schuyloi- and Pliilipse be removed from the 
council, and asking that Cadwallader Golden and James Alexander be 
appointed in their stead, which changes were subsequently (1722) made, 
in accordance with his request.' He also recommended the appoint- 
ment of Philip Livingston as secretary for Indian affairs, in the place 
of his father, Robert Livingston, who by reason of his advanced years 
desired to have this change made. 
Robert Li\'ingston was speaker of 
the assembly, and had been of great 
help in the session just closed, which 
was another reason why Burnet 
wished to accede to his request. This 
also was done." In Dr. Golden and 
James Alexander he secui-ed two of 
the ablest men in the pro\nnce for 
supportei's of his administration, and 
at the same time relieved the council 
of two of the most influential of the 
disaffected party. 

The legislature had adjourned till 
March; but when that time came 
around the governor was otherwise 
occupied, and he adjourned them 
again till May 19. How he was engaged appears by a letter of Isaac 
Bobin under date of March 11, 1721: "There is great talk of His Ex- 
cellency and Miss Mary Van Home, the eldest daughter of Abraham 
Van Home;"' and on May 17, he wi-ites that there were "great prepa- 
rations for the match so much talked of."^ The wedding took place 
shortly after, and undoubtedly was a brilliant affair. Anna Maria 
Van Home, the bride, was a beautiful girl of nineteen, having been 
baptized January 28, 1702. She was the oldest child of Abraham Van 
Home and Mary Provoost (slaughter of David Provoost). Mr. Van 
Home was one of the wealthiest merchants of New-York, and lived in 
Wall street, where he had a storehouse and a bolting- and bakiug-house. 
He was a representative of the old Dutch stock, and had difficulties 
with the English language all his life, which, however, troubled others 
more than himself.' Notwithstanding this deficiency, his son-in-law 
recommended him (June 17, 1722) to a seat in the council, in the place 
of Abraham De Peyster, then incapacitated, and the sturdy oltl Dutch- 
man sat there with his ancient friend. Rip Van Dam, until his death in 
1741.*^ This alliance brought the governor into connection with many 



i^-i^TwL 



1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 578, 579, 647. 

2 lb., 580. 647. 

3N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 459. 

4 lb., 460. 



5 Doc. rel. Col. Hi.st. N. Y.. 5 : 886. 
6 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 6 : 209 ; N. Y. Gen. 
and Biog. Record, 6 : 6. 



156 HISTOEY OF NEW-YOEK 

of tlie oldest families in the ijroviriee, and ought to have strengthened 
his position materially, if he had had the policy to avail himself of the 
opportunity. But policy, beyond an honest desire to serve the inter- 
ests intrusted to him, he did not possess. 

In pursuance of his plan to secure the Indian trade, the governor 
caused a council to be held at Albany on September 7, 1721, which 
was more numerously attended by the Indians than any previous as- 
sembly of the kind in many years.^ He spent several days among the 
Indians before the actual council was held, and by his affable and 
winning manner secui'ed their good will. At the meeting he lu-ged 
them in the strongest language to break their connections with the 
French, and to trade only with the English. The wily Indians were 
non-committal in their reply on that subject, but concluded with this 
sly hint: "We are informed that yom* Excellency is Marryed at New- 
York, We beg leave to acquaint you, that We are glad of it, and wish 
you much Joy And as a token of our Eejoycing We present a few 
Beavers to yom- Lady for Pin Money, And say withall that it is Cus- 
tomaiy for a Brother upon his Marryage to in-vite his Brethren to be 
Meriy and Dance." The governor good-naturedly took the hint and 
ordered them some barrels of beer, "to be merry withall and dance, 
which they did according to their Custom and were extreamly well 
Satisfied."'- The Indians addressed the governor as " Corlaer," giving 
him the name of Arent Van Corlaer, the first representative of the 
whites with whom they had treated before ; and as they held him in 
high esteem, they bestowed the same name as a compliment upon the 
successive governors of New-York.^ In the meantime the governor 
had established a trading-station at Tirondequat, on Lake Ontario, in 
charge of eight gallant young men under the command of Peter 
Schuyler, Jr., son of the ex-president of the council, and they sold 
goods to the Indians for half what the French had formerly charged, 
whereby the English ascendancy was promoted over their Canadian 
rivals.^ The admirable training these young men and their successors 
and associates received in their hazardous enterprise was of great value 
to the colonists in after years, when just such experience was needed 

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. X. Y., 5 : 632. governor of Pennsylvania was called '• Onas." the 

2 n)., (UO. 642, 660. Indian for feather or pen. a translation of William 

3 rij.. 3 : 558. The Indians called the governors Penn's name. (CouncO Minutes. 12: 368; Doc. 
of the several pro-s-inces by the name given to the rel. Col. Hist. X. Y., 5 : 079. J In 1768 the Indians 
first of them with whom they had treated. Thus, bestowed upon the governor of Xew Jersey (Wil- 
as just noted. Arent Van Corlaer gave a name to Uam Franklin) the name " Sagorighweyogsta." 
all succeeding governors of Xew-York. The gov- meaning the •'Great Arbiter or Doer of Justice." 
emor of Maryland was called by the Indians "As- in recognition of his and his people's justice in 
sarigoe," signifying a cutlas, which name was putting to death some persons who had murdered 
given to Lord Howard in 1684. from the Dutch Indians in that province. (Doe. rel. Col. Hist, 
word "Houwer." a cutlas. (Council Minutes. X. Y., 8 : 117.) On this subject see Sparks's 
12:305; Doc. rel. Col. Hist. X. Y., 5 : 670.) [De ■•Washington.'' 2: 47. note; •'Historical Magazine," 
Bouwer, a cutter, also a broadsword. SeutTs Eng- December. 1868, p. 316. 

lish-Dutch Dictionary, Amsterdam, 1691.) The 4 Doc. reL Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 662. 



THE ADIVUNISTKATION of WILLIAM BUENET 



157 



iu their dealings with the hostile French Indians.' Burnet persiiaded 
the Indians "to open a broad path and sweep it clean for the far In- 
dians to come through to Albany," and he was extremely gratified when 
twenty of them came thither in the spring of 1722, and still more so 
when in the ensuing June eighty, besides women and chikken, arrived 
there after a journey of more than a thousand miles.- These Indian 
conferences were quaint and picturesque, as well as important. At 
first they were attended only by the Mohawks, Oueidas, Onondagas, 
Cayugas, and Senecas, compos- 
ing the confederation known as 
the Five Nations. According to 
Horatio Hale, this confedera- 
tion of savages established what 
is now one of the oldest repub- 
lics in the world, dating back to 
a period four hundred years ago, 
when that most remarkable law- 
giver, Hiawatha, brought about 
the union on the basis on which 
it has been maintained to this 
day. The annual election of 
representatives from the various 
nations to the council of the 
confederation still takes place in 
the manner prescribed by him, 
and the several delegates stiU 
bear tlie official names by which 
he designated them before Co- 
lumbus first saw the shores of the New World.' The Tuscaroras hav- 
ing become involved in war with the whites iu the Carolinas, where 
they dwelt, came north in 1714, and were received by the Five Nations, 
and in the course of time joined the confederation as the Sixth Nation.'' 
The Indians were never in a hurry, and it was usually some days 
before they could be induced to settle down to business. Burnet 
occupied this time iu going among them and becoming acquainted 
with theu- leaders. The conference being at last opened, Lawrence 
Claese appeared as interpi-eter, translating the Indian language into 



r 




MRS. WILLIAM BURNET. 



iDoc. rel. Col. Hist. N. T.. 5:641; Smiths 
"Xew-York," p. 219. In that charming work by 
Mrs. Grant, of Laggan, *' Memoirs of an Ameri- 
can Lady" (London. 1808), 1 : 76-87, is a graphic 
description of the toils and dangers of the young 
Americans who set out on trading expeditions from 
Albany through the trackless waste. 

2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 684. 

3 " The Iroquois Book of Rites" (Philadelphia, 



1883). pp. 21 -.39; Morgan's "Systems of Consan- 
guinity and Affinity of the Human Family," p. 151 ; 
Heckewelder's ■• Indian Nations " (edition of 1875), 
p. 56. It should be noted, however, that in the 
'•.Journal of American Folklore," 4 : 205-307. W. 
M. Beauchamp, in a critical review of the accounts 
of Hi-a-wat-ha, concludes that he must have lived, 
if at all. not earlier than A. D. 1600. 
4 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 387, 684. 



158 HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 

Dutch, vrhile Robert Livingston, the venerable secretary for Indian 
affairs, translated from Dutch into English, and vice versa. The 
savages have always been noted for the poetic and felicitous imagery 
in which they clothe their ideas. In expressing their wish to be on 
fi'iendly terms with the whites they said (and we can only guess how 
much of the poetry has been lost in the translation into Dutch and 
then into English) : " Wee were here before the Chi-istians Came Being 
the Antieut Inhabitants of those parts and when the Christians first 
came we made a Covenant with them which was but of bark but after- 
ward the English Comeing to have the Government of those Countries 
we made a Covenant Chain of Silver that the thunder itself coidd not 
break it." ' And again : " When the Christians first came to this 
Country om* Ancestors fastened the ship that brought them behind a 
Great Mountain with a Chain in order to secui'e the same which moun- 
tain lyes behind the Sinnekees Countiy, so that the one end of the 
Chain, being fastened there and the other end at ye Ship, if any body 
would steal away and molest this ship the chain will jingle & make a 
noise & alarm all the 5 Nations who are bound to defend this ship." - 
At another conference Governor Burnet hinted at the desirabilitj^ of 
brightening the covenant chain, whereupon they declared: "We make 
it clean to keep the same bright and wrap beaver Skins about it, that 
it may not rust." ^ " Since a Chain is apt to rust, if it be not oiled or 
greased we will grease it with Bevers gi-ease or Fatt y* the smeU thereof 
will endm-e for a whole year." * The governor was free in giving the 
Indians excellent advice — not to spend then- money in strong drink, 
but to lay it out on clothing and other necessaries for their sujiiiort.' 
But when he asked them to assist him in discovering persons guilty 
of -violating the new law forbidding the sale of Indian goods to the 
French, they, with a shrewd and amusing affectation of simplicity, 
replied: "We are peaceable People & inclined to Peace & if we should 
intermeddle in any such matter, we should but create oui'selves a 
gi'eat many enemies & therefore desire to be excused." " 

By this conference Burnet learned more of their wants, and how 
they were robbed by the traders at Albany, who took them into theii- 
houses and plied them with drink before buying their peltries. So 
the governor had an act passed by the legislature in 1723 providing 
for the erection of two large wooden houses for the special accommo- 
dation of the Indians, where trade with them was carried on publicly." 
He also used his personal influence to induce the traders to treat the 
Indians more fairly, and to sell them goods more reasonably, whereby 
a gi'eat improvement was brought about in the relations between the 

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 562. 5 lb., 663. 

2 It., 667. 6 lb.. 668. 

3 lb., 799. 7 lb., 701: "Journal of Legislatire Council," 
1 lb., C63. 1 : 504, 506, 533. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM SUBNET 159 

English and the savages. Nor did he overlook the importance of 
protecting the whites, and the legislature took measures for the re- 
newal of the stockades about Albany and Schenectady, which had 
been allowed to fall into decay, and authorized the Albany authorities 
to build two new block-houses for the better protection of that frontier 
town.' But the governor's statesmanlike plan for securing to the 
English the absolute control of the Indian trade aroused the opposi- 
tion of the British mauufacturei'S and the New- York merchants, who 
had engrossed it to themselves. They feared that the French would 
secure their supplies from other quarters, and that New- York would 
lose the profits it had so long enjoyed. So these merchants and their 
British friends drew up a strong remonstrance, urging the king to 
disallow the act. They claimed that in consequence of it trade had 
fallen oft' in New- York, both in imports and exports; that the supply 
of beaver-skins was but half what it had been before the passage of 
the act; that the price had gone up twenty-five per cent.; and that 
importations into the province had been greatly reduced. These 
representations being transmitted to Governor Burnet, he laid them 
before the council, and Dr. Coldeu and Mr. Alexander were charged 
with the preparation of a reply, which was adopted by the council. 
In this able and admirable report they refuted most of the facts 
alleged, and the arguments adduced by the remonstrants." The lords 
of trade deemed a compromise ad\asable. They recommended that 
the act be disallowed on account of the feature compelling persons to 
answer under oath, under a penalty of one hundred pounds, whether 
or not they had violated the law. They approved of the design of 
the act, and recommended that the governor should be instructed 
to secm-e the passage of a new bill, omitting the objectionable fea- 
ture referred to.^ It was a great triumph for the governor, and he 
exulted not a little over it. As the king took no action on the 
report of the lords of trade, and as the act expired by limitation, 
the legislature in 1726 passed another act, on the governor's recom- 
mendation, he having come to an agreement with the people of Albany 
on the subject, whereby it was provided that a duty of thirty shillings 
should be laid on every piece of " strouds " carried to Canada, and 
one of only fifteen shillings on each piece sent from Albany to Lake 
Ontario, thus giving the English traders a great advantage over 
their French competitors, and encouraging the Indians to continue 
coming to Albany for supplies.'* So much space has been given to this 
subject because it was the favorite project of the governor during 
his administration. It was a gi-eat thing for the province; of vast 

1 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 631, 782 ; Journal 3 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y.. 5 : 708, 739, 757, 763. 
of Legislative CouncU. 1 : 470-1. 4 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 778. 

2 Smith's "New- York," pp. 207, 221. 



160 HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 

importance to New- York City; aud yet to this policy, so successfully 
carried out, was largely due the ultimate removal of Burnet from 
this government. 

T\Tiile the handsome young governor was thus enforcing his Indian 
policy, he was not unmindful of the duties resting upon him in other 
lines. Of a genial nature, extremely sociable in disposition, he readily 
entered into the social life of the little town. This centered in Fort 
George,^ at the Battery, where the governor lived in state in his man- 
sion; where the King's Chapel stood, which had been buUt on the 
ruins of the original Dutch church erected nearly a century before, and 
whence pealed forth the tones of the bell alike for weddings, for funer- 
als, and for public occasions in general. At special entertainments the 
governor's charming lady would bring out the sUver-and-gilt tea-ser- 
vice presented to his father by the Princess Soj^hia in recognition of his 
services in bringing about the Protestaut succession.- According to the 
old custom observed since the days of Peter Stuyvesant, he received 
calls on the 1st of January after his arrival.^ There was miich gaiety in 
the queer little cosmopolitan towu in those days. The members of the 
legislature frequently gathered at the "Widow Post's" after a day's 
session, to discuss the public affairs over a glass of wine,'' and gentle- 
men would sometimes meet at a fi'iend's house "to hear some good 
Musick, aud to take a Tiff of fresh Lime Punch," or something stronger.'^ 
Secretary Clarke was one of the few citizens of the town who indulged 
in the luxury of a spinet, which he bought in September, 1723, just as 
if a little girl who arrived in his family at the same time could not 
fm-nish music enough for his house!" Mr. Clarke displayed various 
signs of wealth in those days, for in addition to the spinet and a negro 
servant he bought his wife blue, purple, and green silk stockings a 
few months later. " Some of the worthy Dutch vromvs continued to own 
a multiplicity of petticoats, after the fashion of their mothers, as chroni- 
cled by Diedrich Knickerbocker. In 1730 the widow of Francis Philipse 
was the proud possessor of a red silver-laid petticoat, a red cloth petti- 

1 In 1721 the fort had four regular bastions, • bought at Mrs. Prank's' ; piece brown ozanbrige, 
faced with stone, and mounted with fifty cannon, 9t. 55 ells, at 18d. : a doz. pd. of chocolate at 22s. ; 
but had neither ditch nor outworks. (Doc.rel. Col. 12 lbs. .soap, at 7s. 8d. ; 4 bottles lime juice, lis.; 
Hist. N. y., 5:602. ) Repairs were made in 1724. and 2 bbls. 'lamb black,' Is.; 1 pr. silk stockings, 
new apartments fitted up in 1725-6, but in the lat- 19s. ; 6 yds. calico. Is. 6d. ; a pr. of ' Cizors,' Is.; 
ter year the roof of the chapel and the barracks 12 gals. rum. 4s. per gal. ; 2 bbls. stale beer, for 
were still in a ruinous condition. " Journal Legis- workmen, £1 16s. per bbl. ' Eetgers says it is 
lative Council." 1 : 489-93. 507. 519, 536. 539. extraordinary good beer and y racking it off into 

2 Cadwallader Colden. N. Y. Hist. Soc. CoU.. other Barr'" would flatten it and make it Drink 
1868. p. 217. Dead.' " The chocolate was bought at Dugdale's ; it 

3 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 458. had gone up from 20s., owing to an advance in co- 

4 lb., 485. coa ; the soap and starch ''were bought at one Pel- 

5 lb.. 486. lerreau's next to Mr. Jordain's." (N.Y. Col. MSS., 

6 lb.. 480. 42:61.107.119.120.1 " 1 sent by Riche Mr. Hyde's 
'n>., 482. Some of Mr. Clarke's purchases show [a relative of Mrs. Clarke] Wigg; the price is 4. 

the cost of living in those days : " 3S§ gals, molas- 10s.; he'U take it again if not approved at that 
ses. at 2s. per gal. ; 3 gals, whale oil, at 4s. ; 3 bush, price." lb., 120. 
salt, at 3s. 6d. ; piece of striped silk muslin, at 5d., 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF TATLLIAM BUENET 



161 



coat, a silk quilted petticoat, two black silk (luilted petticoats, and a 
splendid psalm-book with gold clasps and gold chain whereby she hung 
it upon her arm. About this time, too, window-hangings of camlet, 
colored harrateeu, and other expensive goods came into use in the more 
pretentious houses; also japanned tea-tables, gold-framed looking- 
glasses, tall eight-day clocks, and other evidences of increasing wealth. 
Pewter ware was still more common than china. William Smith had 
been the first private individual to set up a coach (1704), but at this time 
there were several of them besides the great state coach of his Excel- 
lency the governor.^ Two-wheeled chaises for one horse were the most 
common vehicle for rid- 
ing then and for many 
years after.'- On pleas- 
ant summer evenings 
everybody assembled 
on the front stoep 
and chatted with his 
neighbors and with pas- 
sers-by — a charming 
custom revived of late 
years in the wonderful 
and progressive me- 
trojiolis of the great 
West. Well-to-do peo- 
ple kept excellent tables 
laden with great varie- 
ties of fish, flesh, fowl, 
and vegetables. The or- 
dinary beverages were 
beer, cider, punch, and 
Madeii'a.^ Balls and 

sleigh-rides were the favoiite amusements in the winter; in the 
summer, boating and driving parties. An advertisement from the 
" American Weekly Mercury " for March 23, 1727, indicates that gold- 
smiths flourished in the town : 




TOMB OF DAVID PROVOOST, IN JONES'S WOOD. 



This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen and others, That a Lottery is to be di-awn at 
Mr. John Stevens in Perth Amhoy, for £501 of Silver and Gold Work, wi-ought by 
Simeon Sotimain of New- York, Gold-Smith, all of the newest Fashion. The highest 
Prize consists of an Eight square Tea-Pot, six Tea-Spoons, Skimmer and Tongues. 
Valued at £18 3s. 6d. The lowest Prize consists of Twelve Shillings Value. There is 
278 Piizes in all, and there is only five Blanks to each Prize. Tickets are given out 



1 Edward Bromhead. who officiated as the gov- 

enior's coachman for some years, appears to have 

managed to make a hicrative position out of it, as 

he acquired a snug little property in the city and 

Vol. II.— 11. 



in Ulster County. Calendar X. Y. Hist. MSS.. 
2 : 504. 

2 " Valentine's Manual," 1858. pp. 501 - 11. 

SBumaby's "Travels," p. 87. 



162 HISTOEY OF NEW- YORK 

at Six Sliillings York Money, or Seven Shillings Jersey Money for each Ticket, at the 
House of Mr. John Stevens in Aniboij, at Mr. Lewis Carrees in Alkns Toicn, at Mr. Jolines 
in Elizabeth Toivn, at Mr. Cortlands at Second Eirer,^ by Mr. Andrew Bradford in Phila- 
delphia, at Mr. Samuel Clause in Jamaica on Long Island, and by Simeon Soiimain in the 
City of New -York, at which last Place the Goods so to be fb-awn for are to be seen. 
And the said Goods are to be valued and appraised by Mr. Peter Van Dyke, and Mr. 
Charles Le Eeux, two Gold-Smiths in the City of New-York. And said Lottery is to 
be drawn the 22d day of 3Iay next, Anno 1727. If said Lottery be full sooner, it will 
be drawn before the 22d of May next. 

The people were fond of amusements, as jnst said, balls and sleigh- 
ing in winter; in the summer, boating and driving parties. A favorite 
resort for the latter was the Fresh Water Hill, — adjacent to the pres- 
ent Chatham street, south of Pearl street, — on the summit of which 
Francis Child kept a public house, with pleasure-gardens attached. 
The wells of the town afforded such poor water that it was scarcely 
fit to drink, and strangers were often made ill by it. At the upper 
end of the present City Hall park was a large body of fresh water, 
fed by innumerable springs. One of these springs was so abundant, 
and the quality of the water so superior, that it was in universal 
demand from all parts of the town for making tea ; so a huge pump 
was placed over it, and men came thither with carts and carried away 
the water to sell it about town to the good housewives for the brew- 
ing of the cup that "cheers but not inebriates." Hence the name, 
" Tea Water Piimp," which lingers in the memory of some of the 
oldest inhabitants to this day.'- The outlet from the Fresh Water, or 
Kalck Hoeck, corrupted into "Collect," flowed across Chatham street, 
and was spanned by a bridge, and as it became the recognized custom 
for a gentleman driving over this bridge with a lady to salute his 
companion, it was known as the "Kissing Bridge."^ Eaces took 
place in the neighborhood, it being pretty well oitt of town. Of 
course, it sometimes happened that parties of yoimg people who went 
out driving beyond the town got belated on their return, and were 
obliged to pass the night at some wayside house where there was 
scanty supply of separate rooms, in which case they " bundled," after 
the fashion of the time, and not infrequently with results that finally 
brought that queer practice into disrepute, and which Jacob Vos- 
burgh, in a letter to Governor Burnet in 1723, characterizes, with 
a feeling excusable under the circumstances, as a " wicked and base 
custom of those parts." "^ The old Dutch families still kept up the 
custom of sending out printed invitations to funerals, on sheets about 
the size of this page. Everybody drank. Rum figured largely in the 

iNowcalledBelleville, near Newark, New Jersey. of New- York and New Jersey within half a cen- 

2 Valentine's Manual, 1865, pp. 005-12. tury, the writer has found very few of the old 

3Burnaby's " Travels*' (ed. 1708). p. 87. people who were willing to admit that they ever 

■* Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 480. Although "bundled" in their young days, or that they had 

the custom referred to prevailed among the Dutch ever known anything about the practice. 



THE ADMINISTKATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 163 

imports into the province. In 172-4 it sold at two shillings and niue- 
penee a gallon. In 172G Isaac Bobiu and George Clarke owed " £13 
10 shillings for half a pipe of wine."' Of course the governor kept a 
goodly stock of wines and liquors in the ample cellars of his mansion 
in the fort; nevertheless, when Governor Spotswood of Virginia 
came to New-York in his Majesty's ship Enterprize, on his way 
to attend the Indian conference at Albany in the fall of 1722, he 
brought his own liquors with him, — whether because he doubted the 
quantity or the quality of the New-York supply is not known, — and 
he asked Governor Burnet and his council to admit his liquors free 
of duty, which of course they did ; " and, although the record is silent 
on that head, it is a safe guess that they all sampled the Virginia 
governor's choice without delay. A diffei-ent sort of petition came 
before the same body on May 15, 1724, when Captain Peter Solgard, 
of his IMajesty's ship Greyhound, informed the council that the 
navy had refused to furnish rations of rum to shipwrights and 
calkers employed in refitting his Majesty's ships in the plantations, 
and the men refused to work Avithout it, wherefore he asked leave to 
impress such as he needed. But the council concluded that such a 
course would drive the workmen out of the colony, to the great 
damage of the merchant service, especially as the men employed on 
merchant vessels were paid six and ninepence per day (ninepenee 
more than in the navy), and were given their usual allowance of rum 
besides.^ How the English captain managed to get his vessel refitted 
does not appear. 

Slavery prevailed, with its attendant evils. Labor was scarce, 
which was the excuse for stealing the natives from their homes in 
Africa and bringing them to New-Yoi'k, to be sold like cattle. The 
price ranged from forty to seventy-five pounds. Thus, in 1720, Cap- 
tain Hopkiiis offers a negi'o for fifty pounds ; in 1723 Captain Muuroe 
is willing to sell his " negi'o wench, 17 years old, warranted sound in 
limb, a native of Jamaica, for £45." Mr. Chaloner offers a " negro 
wench for £45, 20 years old, sound of limb," and with the promise 
of supplying her owner with another human chattel in the coui'se of 
three months. William Eraser, of Richmond County, is closing up 
an estate, and offers a negro man and wench for sale, for fifty and 
sixty pounds respectively. Eobert King, of Perth Amljoy, offers to 
sell George Clarke a negro Wench for fifty pounds,^ while Dr. Dupuy 
wants fifty-five pounds for a negro wench nineteen years old, whom 
he had brought up from infancy. The poor girl did not like to be 
sold, he said, but he sent her to Mr. Clarke " on approval," with the 
caution: "she will pretend not to know anything, but she must not 

1 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 489, 497. 3 Council Minute.s. 14 : 290. 

2 Council Minutes, 13 : 305. iCalendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 454, 470, 477-481. 



164 



HISTORY OF NEW-YOKK 




EAST RIVER, BETWEEH JOHN STREET AND PECK SLIP. 



be believed." Three years later Mr. Clarke is anxious to sell a negro 
woman, "as she has a great itch foi- running away." So it is prol^able 
that the girl could not be tamed into submission. Ex-Sheriff Harri- 
son, of Perth Amboy, wants seventy-five pounds for a negro wench 
and child four years old.' The importations of slaves into New- York 
were, for the years named : 1720, eighty-one ; 1721, one hundred and 

ninety-three; 1722, one 
hundi'ed and six ; 1723, 
eighty-two ; 1724, sixty- 
,. -::'- «, one ; 1725, one hundred 

and thirteen ; 1726, one 
hundred and eighty." 
The newspapers of the 
day contain numerous 
advertisements offer- 
ing rewards for run- 
away slaves, who are 
described as if they 
were, horses or mules, with all their peculiar "marks." There was 
a white slavery in those days, too. In 1723 a white woman and 
her husband, from New England, who had been burnt out by the 
Indians, offer themselves for hire for a term of years.^ Dr. John 
Browne, " in York Road, West Jersey," in 1726 offers forty shillings 
reward for the return to him of "a servant Woman, named Sarah 
Parler or Sartin, supposed to be Inveigled or Conveyed away by one 
Richard Sartin, who served his Time at French Creek in Pennsyl- 
vania, at the Iron Works, wlio pretends that he is her Husband, but 
is not; she is a little thin Person, having on a Calico Gown strip'd 
with Blue, or a black and white one of Woole and Worstead, a new 
Bonet, and other tolerable good Cloaths."' In the same year John 
Leonards, " at South river bridge near Amboy," gleefully announces 
that a negro had been forced by starvation to come to his house, and 
he holds him till his owner shall come and pay a reward " and also 
reasonably for his Diet till fetched."" Men and women sold them- 
selves for terms of years for their passage to this countiy; or when 
misfortunes befell them here, they sold themselves until they could 
gather a little money. The negro slave-market in New- York was 
established in 1709 at the foot of Wall street, where it was in Gov- 
ernor Burnet's time.* Many of the planters, with questionable liber- 
ality, allowed their slaves one day in the week to work for them- 
selves, on condition of their feeding and clothing themselves ! Some 



1 Caleudar N. Y. Hist. MSS.. 2 : 481, 490. 
2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 814. 
3 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2: 481. 



4 " American Weekly Mercury " (Philadelphia), 
August 25, 1720. 
s 11).. July 14, 1720. 
G Valentine's Manual, 1865, p. 559. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 165 

allowed all Saturdaj-, some half of Satui-day and half of Sunday, and 
some only Sunday. The negroes were assured that they had no souls, 
and perished as the beasts.' Their punishments were barbarous. 
They were burnt at the stake, broken on the wheel, or hung alive in 
chains to endure a lingering, horrible death by slow torture.'- Their 
dead were buried in a tield set apart for the purpose, on the north side 
of the present Chambers street, just opposite the new Court House, 
at night, by their own people, without any Cln-istian offices, but usu- 
ally with some superstitious rites they had brought from Africa.' 
These weird assemblies by night being calculated to stir up the 
negi-oes to acts of violence, in 1722 the city authorities ordained that 
thereafter negroes and Indian slaves dying within the city, on the 
south side of the Fresh Water, should be buried by daylight, and 
before sunset. It was also ordained that any negro or Indian, slave 
or free, convicted of gaming or playing in the streets or elsewhere for 
money, should be publicly whipped at the whipping-post, unless the 
master or owner of any such slave should pay a fine of three shil- 
lings.' The whipping-post, pillory, and stocks stood in Broad street, 
a little below the City Hall, which was on Wall street, where the 
United States Subtreasury now stands; the jail was in the base- 
ment of the City Hall ; by 1724 it had become so unfit for the pur- 
pose that the judges complained of it ; in 1727 it was presented by 
the grand jury, in consequence of which four men were appointed to 
watch it to prevent escapes.^ In July, 1727, it was ordered that a 
public gallows be erected on the Common, at the usual place of exe- 
cution — at the upper end of the present City Hall park. In 1720 it 
was ordained that no brickmakers or charcoal-burners should cut 
down any trees upon the commons for bm-ning bricks or making 
charcoal.'' There was no poorhouse, the poor being cared for at theii- 
homes, by private charity or by the vestry. Every person relieved 
wore a badge of blue or red conspicuously on the sleeve, marked 
"K Y."" There was a market-house on Pearl street, between Wall 
street and Exchange Place, while the Custom House of that day was 
on the same street, between Broad and Whitehall streets.^ 

The little town was advancing in the matter of street improvements. 
The residents on Broadway had been given leave in 1708 to plant 
trees in front of their premises,'' giving the street a pleasant aspect, 
especially in summer. The property-owners on the principal streets 
were required to pave the streets with cobblestones for a distance of 

1 " Historical Account of the Incorporated So- 5 Valentine's Manual. 18C2, pp. 539, 553. 
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel." by David S lb.. 185S, pp. 505, 567. 
Humphreys (London. 1730), p. 238. ' lb.. 1862. p. 058. 

2 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y.. 5 : 341. 8 D)., l.S.iO, pp. 443. 446. 

3 Humphreys, as cited, p. 238. 3 lb., 1850, p. 446. 
* Valentine's Manual, 1858, p. 566. 



166 



HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 




PROVOOST ARMS. 



ten feet from their line, leaving the middle unpaved.' The population 
was increasing steadily. In 1712 it had been 5840; in 1723 it was 
7248; and in 1731, 8622." Property-owners began to develop their 

lands, to meet the increasing demand for 
building-lots. About 1720 Trinity Church 
began to lay out the south part of the " King's 
Farm" into lots.'' The block boimded by 
Whitehall, Pearl, Moore, and Water streets 
had been used for many years as an open 
market-place where the country wagons 
stood, and the vacant space in front of the 
fort was used as a public j^arade and for 
meetings, bonfli'es, and other public demon- 
strations. Stephen Richards, Jacob Leisler, 
Obadiah Hiint, Benjamin Wynkoop, Robert 
Crook, Thomas Roberts, Paul Richard, and 
Isaac De Peyster, Sr., living near the south- 
east bastion of the fort, presented a petition to the governor and coun- 
cil, June 15, 1724, setting forth that the old market-house had fallen 
down and that the dock adjoining had become filled up by the rubbish 
of the city, and that the magistrates of the city proposed to lease the 
ground in building-lots for the term of forty-one years, which the pe- 
titioners claimed would be greatl.y to their injury, and that the build- 
ings would obstruct the range of the cannon in the fort. Dr. Colden, as 
surveyor-general, sustained the correctness of this latter objection, and 
the council stopped the proposed improvement.^ In 1732 the old mar- 
ket-place was leased to some public-spirited citizens, who laid it out and 
inclosed it for a bowling green.'^ In 1722 the first steps were taken 
toward extending the shore-line of the Hudson River front out to deep 
water, but the property-owners were indift'erent, and it was several 
years before the present Greenwich and Washington streets were laid 
out. There were more signs of improvement on the East River front. 
On January 18, 1722, the council received a petition from Garrit Van 
Horn, John Read, Thomas Bayeux, Stephen Richards, Thomas Clarke, 
Rip Van Dam, Jr., Henry Cuyler, and Peter Breasted, asking for letters 
patent to extend the wharves upon the shore of the East River from 
Rip Van Dam's corner at the lower end of Maiden Lane to the corner 
of Thomas Clarke. The mayor, Robert Walters, in behalf of the city, 
objected, but the council, after several hearings, gi'anted the petition 
and ordered that a street forty-five feet wide be laid out on the shore- 
fi"ont,to be called Burnet's street (now Water street, between Wall and 



1 Valentine's Manual, 1862, p. 533. 

2 rij.. 1851, p. 352. 

s Valentine's " History of New-York," p. 286. 



i Council Minutes, 14 : 306, 325; Calendar N. Y. 
Hist. MSS. . 2 : 488 ; Valentine's Manual,1862, 511-12. 
5 Valentines Hist. N. Y., p. 286. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM BUKNET 167 

John), ami that the new dock bo called Burnet's key.' The develoj)- 
meut of the town is also indicated by the numerous sales of real estate. 
In 1719 the Presbyterians bought a plot 88x124 feet on Wall street, 
near Broadway, for which they paid Abraham De Peyster and Nicholas 
Bayard £350. In 1720, a lot on the northeast corner of Maiden Lane 
and William street, twenty-five feet on William street and forty-flve 
feet on Maiden Lane, sold for $193; two houses and ^-y 
lots on the uoi'thwest corner of Broad and Stone /"^^^^Mi/ft 
streets, fronting on Broad street, 51J feet front, 12 ^ 

feet deep, $1250. In 1721, house and lot in Wall street, 32x150 feet, 
$850; two lots on Broadway, 50x160 feet, $293. In 1722, lot on 
the present Rose street, 25x100 feet, ^25. In 1723, two lots on the 
north side of Beekman street, north of William street, $125; lot 
on Beekmau street, next to the corner of Gold street, 23x100 
feet, $80; lot on the southeast corner of Beekman and Cliff streets, 
25x75 feet, $125. In 1725, four lots on the northwest corner of 
Frankfort and Vandewater streets, one hundred and forty feet on 
Frankfort street and one hundi'ed feet on Vandewater (then Duke) 
street, $150. In 1726 the Dutch church paid £575 for the plot on 
Nassau street, whereon they built their new church.'- A lot on the 
north side of John street, 25 x 100 feet, sold for $200 ; a lot on 
the east side of Broad waj^, 24x161 feet, $97; and a house and lot on 
the west side of Broadway, 70x50 feet, $1100. In 1727 two lots 
on Spruce street and two on Gold street, $225; a lot on the north 
side of Maiden Lane, 25x147 feet, $250; and a lot on John street, 
35x100 feet, $125. 

The commerce of the port grew slowly but steadily, about 215 
to 225 vessels cleariug out yearly. From 1717 to 1720 the imports 
averaged £21,254 yearly, and the exports £52,239. From 1720 to 1723 
the imports remained the same, while the exports increased an average 
of £2300 yearly; from 1723 to 1727 the imports averaged £27,480 
per annum, and the exports £73,000.'' One obstacle to the growth 
of commerce was the frequency with which merchant vessels were 
captured on the high seas by bloodthirsty pirates, who cruised off- 
shore, and often had the temerity to sail up to the very port of New- 
Tork. The newspapers of the day are full of reports of encounters 
with these dai-ing sea-i"obbers. For example: the crew of one vessel 
arriving in New- York in 1723 told how they had been boarded by 
pirates, who plundered the vessel, " cut and whipped some of the men, 
and others they burnt with Matches between the Fingers to the bone 
to make them confess where their Money was, they took to the value 
of a Thousand Pistoles from Passengers and others, they then let them 

1 CouncU Minutes. XIII : 2 - 116. 2 Now occupied by the Mtitual Life Insurance Companv. The 
new church was built in 1729. 3 Doe. rel'. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 618, 761. 897. 



168 



HISTORY or NEW-YOKK 



go." " The Pyrates gave us an account of his taking the Bay of Hou- 
doras from the Spaniards, which had surprised the English and taking 
tliem, and putting all the Spaniards to the Sword Excepting two Boys, 
as also burning The King George, and a Snow belonging to New York, 
and sunk one of the New England Ships, and cut off one of the Mas- 
ters Ears and slit his Nose, all this they confessed themselves, they 
are now supposed to be cruising off of Sandy Hook or thereabouts." ' 

Sometimes vessels ar- 
riving in the port 
brought an enemy on 
board, as was the case 
of the bi'igantine Hope- 
well, from Madeira, 
which arrived in port 
on the night of May 
25, 1725, with a number 
of people afflicted with 
smallpox, of which one 
person had died. It 
appeared that Henry 
Fuller, the mate, who 
was ill with the disease, 
had come ashore, and 
the high sheriff was 
ordered "to go to one 
Goelets, a Painter, in 
Maiden Lane, and there 
to search for the said 
Henry Fuller and to 
Convey him on Board the said Brigantine." The sheriff found diffi- 
culty in executing the warrant, owing to the natural timidity of his 
constables about exposing themselves to infection, so the council 
desired Colonel Riggs, the commander at the fort, to send four of 
his best men to assist in removing Fuller. Messrs. B. Rynders, 
John Van Home, and Stephen De Lancey, owners of the Hopewell, 
asked that the crew and their bedding might be put on Bedlow's 
Island, but the council concluded that the vessel should anchor in 
the channel between Bedlow's Island and Buckett Island, at the same 
time prescribing a code of signals for communication between the 
vessel and the shore in cases of necessity, until the brigantine should 
be free from infection. The ferrymen on each side of the Narrows 
and all the pilots belonging to the port were directed to acquaint all 




"u/'Um/^ 



1 " American Weekly Mercury " (Philadelphia), June 6, 1723. 



THE ADMINISTBATION OF WILLIAM JBUENET 169 

incoming vessels that the Hopewell was "performing quarantine" 
at Bedlow's Island.' 

The jurisdiction of the governor and council was exercised over 
a cui'ious range of subjects. September 30, 1720, Henry Smith was 
given a commission to seize all drift whales on the coast of Suffolk 
County.^ December 7, 1720, Mary Barnet, of Stateu Island, widow, 
petitioned for leave to ask and receive volunttiry assistance from the 
benevolent, her house having been burned;'' and on the 23d of the same 
month Edmund Hawkings, mariner, petitioned "for a brief to obtain 
relief from the charitable, he having lost his sloop by fire off Wiite- 
stone, Long Island."* The Pi-esbyterians, having secured a site for a 
church, petitioned, September 19, 1720, for incorporation, but were re- 
fused, for lack of a precedent.^ May 17, 1721, a license was gi-anted to 
James Cooper & Company to take whales, they paying one twentieth of 
the oil and whalebone.'' To encourage various enterprises, monopolies 
■were frequently granted. In 1720 the Legislature passed an act grant- 
ing to Robert Lettice Hooper and his assigns a monopoly for refining 
sugar. In 1725 Hooper styled himself "sugar refiner," but having 
failed to live up to the terms of his privilege, an act was passed in 
November, 1727, repealing his monopoly." In 1724 an act was passed 
giving to Susannah Parmyter, widow, and her assigns, the exclusive 
right of making lamp-black for ten years.'* William Bradford, the 
printer, asked for a like monopoly for the manufacture of paper for 
fifteen years, but the powers that were had no great love for the news- 
paper pi'ess, and his petition was not granted." In 1726 Lewis Hector 
Piot De Langloserie was by act of the legislature given the sole right 
to catch porpoises in the province of New-York.'" The progress made 
toward reclaiming the wilderness adjacent to the city is indicated by 
the passage of an act in 1723 withdrawing the bounty previously 
offered for the capture of wild cats, although three years later it was 
deemed necessary to again offer bounties for the destruction of foxes 
and wild cats in Queens County. It was still customary to allow 
swine to run at large during the winter, picking up their subsistence 
in the woods, but by the year 1722 it was thought necessary to pass 
an act restricting this practice in the counties immediately around 
New- York, and in 1726 Saratoga received the same protection. In 

1 Council Minutes, 14, et 2>assim ; Calendar X. Y. las Bayard gave notice in the newspapers of the 

Hist. MSS., 2 : 492. day that he had erected a retiuing-hou.se for refln- 

- Cal. N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 455. ing all sorts of su^ar and sugar-candy, and had 

3 lb., p. 457. procured from Europe an experienced artist in 

4 lb., pp. 457. 458. that mystery. (N. Y. Gazette, Aug. 17, 17.S0.) This 

5 N. Y. Dec. Hist., 3 : 278-281 : Calendar N. Y. sugar-hou.se stood back from Wall street, between 
Hist. MSS., 2 : 454. Nassau and William, a high board fence along the 

6 Cal, N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 460. street front securing it from intrusion. 

'Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 456, 491 ; Jour- ». Journal Legislative Council, 1 : 509, 518. 

nal Legislative Council, 1 : 461, .536, 557, 558, 562: SH,., p. 514. 

Doc. rel. Col. Hist. X. Y., 5 : 847. In 1730 Nicho- 10 lb., pp. 526, 536, 



170 HISTORY OF NEW-YOEK 

this latter year also an act was passed for the more effectual preser- 
vation and increase of deer on the Island Nassaw (Long Island).' 

One smiles at the primitive simplicity of the City Fathers of those 
unsophisticated days, to read the financial statements of the chamber- 
lain. He actually managed to keep the city's expenditures -within its 
income. In 1721 the city's receipts were £559, of which only £215 
was spent, leaving a balance of £344 in the treasury. In 1722 the re- 
ceipts were £704, and expenditures £310, leaving a balance of £394; 
in 1723, the income was £721, and the outgo £575; in 1724, income 
£430, outgo £428, which was close sailing ; in 1725, income £257, outgo 
£248; in 1726, income £288, outgo £224; in 1727, income £217, which 
was £30 more than the expenditures. A pound in New-York currency 
was reckoned at eighteen pence to the shilling, and so was equal to 
two-thirds of the pound sterling. In 1728 there was due the city 
£1384, and a bonded debt was undreamed of. One of the sources 
of income was the lease of the feriy to Brooklyn — the only ferry 
established then, the lessee being required to provide a house on each 
side, and boats for passengers and cattle. In 1717 two ferries were 
established, both running from what is now the foot of Fulton street 
on the Long Island side. In 1728 the privilege was leased for five 
years for two hundred and fifty-eight pounds yearly. The resi- 
dents of the little Dutch \allage of Breuckelen, a mile back from the 
river, insisted upon their right to ferry themselves across, but New- 
York claimed the exclusive privilege, and the legislature frequently 
enacted strong measures to protect the city and its lessees." The rev- 
enues of the province amounted to aboitt four thousand pounds annu- 
ally, raised principally by duties on rum, molasses, negroes, and Madeu-a 
^vine, imported in foreign vessels. There was also a tonnage duty on 
vessels coming into port, and a small tax on salt and other necessaries. 
In 1726 the assembly wanted to remove the tonnage duty, on the 
grorind that it drove commerce to New Jersey ; they also wished to take 
off the duty on salt and molasses, which fell on the poor, and to impose 
a poll-tax on negi'oes, which the rich would chiefly have to pay. Gov- 
ernor Burnet was strongly in favor of a paper currency, and presented 
numerous and long arguments in its behalf, notwithstanding his un- 
fortunate experience in the South Sea speculation. Indeed, he urged 
that the failure of that scheme was partly due to the neglect of the 
government to fix a maximum price for the stock. Another argument 
he adduced was that in New Jersey, where paper money was popular, 
the curreucy being based on real-estate loans, secured by a tax, the 
effect had been to send gold and silver out of the province to England.^ 

1 "Journal Legislative Council." 1 : 486, 506, 517. 3 Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y.. 5 : 551, 700, 736, 738, 
532, 550. 769. 889-91; Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS., 2 : 479; 

2 lb., pp. 536, 562, etc. N. -T. AreWves, 5 : 76, 87, 153 -8. 




THE ADJnNISTKATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 171 

Governor Buruet found time amid his multifarious official duties to 
devote himself to his books — of which he was passionately fond — 
and to his researches in science and theology. " He was useful in pro- 
moting science, and by a quadrant of a large radius and well di\aded, 
by a good telescope of eighteen feet, and by a second pendulum of 
large vibrations, he made sev- 
eral good astronomical obser- 
vations, towards ascertaining 
latitudes and longitudes." ' He 
prepared a paper on the eclipses 
of Jupiter's satellites, which 
was piiblished in 17"24 in the 

^ "Transactions" of the Royal 

- Ask^ n o mica ^ Society, of which the slave-market of new-vork. 

he was a member." But his 

great hobby was the study of divinity and of the Bible, and when 
he got a listener he was loath to let him go. He said that Sir Isaac 
Newton had taught him that the prophets had a language pecu- 
liar to themselves, which once learned, the prophecies could be as 
readily understood as other writings.'^ Whether or not he applied 
this method, or whether he rightly understood his famous precep- 
tor, cannot be told, but he spent two years or more in writing an ex- 
position of that stumbling-block of expositors — the twelfth chapter 
of Daniel, publishing the results in 1724, anonymously. Having in 
this book proved to his own satisfaction that the first period referred 
to by Daniel occurred in 1715, he easily showed that the second 
would happen in 1745, and the thii-d in 1790. While engaged on this 
work he conceived the idea of going over to France to persuade the 
leading men in that eountiy to destroy the Papacy — a whimsical 
notion which greatly alarmed his wiser brother Gilbert in England.^ 
Dr. Golden says he was a zealous Christian, but not in all points ortho- 
dox, for he "often declared that many orthodox men were knaves, 
while he had never known a here tick that was not an honest man."' 
As the censorious Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler puts it, "his eccen- 
ti'ical genius was not to be confined within the limits of orthodoxy."'' 
He Avas the terror of young preachers, for, no matter even if they had 
been licensed by the Bishop of London, the governor would give them 
a text and a Bible, and shut them up in a room for a certain time to 
prepare a sermon, and if it did not satisfy him they wei-e not suffered 
to preach in his dominions." Still, he was tolerant of all forms of 

1 Douglass's " Summary," 1 : 480. 5 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, 215. 

2 Whitehead's " Perth Amboy." p. 165. 6 Chandler's " Life of Johnson " (London, 1824). 
SCadwaUader Colden. in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.. p. 41. 

1868, pp. 214, 215. 7 Whitehead's •• Perth Amboy," p. 162. 

4 Whitehead's "Perth Amboy," pp. 162. 163. 



172 HISTOEY OF XEW-YOEK 

religiou. When Nicholas Eyers, brewer, set forth iu his petition in 
January, 1722, that his hired house iu Broad street had been registered 
as ''an anabaptist meeting house" since the first Tuesday in Febriuiry, 
1715; that he had been a public preacher to a Baptist congregation in 
the city for at least fom- years; that he had just hired a house from 
Rip Van Dam for a public meeting-house, and that he desired a license 
as a preacher, the governor readily gi'anted it.' He cared little for 
the extei-nal forms of religion. While on his way to Boston, when 
transferred to that government, he complained of the long graces of 
the clergymen on the road, and asked Colonel Tyler when they would 
shorten, who replied: " The gi'aces will increase iu length until you 
come to Boston; after that, they will shorten till you come to your 
government of Xew Hampshire, where your Excellency will find no 
grace at all."- One day, when about to sit down to dinner with an 
"old charter" senator of Massachusetts, who retained the custom of 
saying gi-ace sitting, his host asked him which way he prefei'red, to 
which the hungry governor impatiently replied: "Standing or sitting, 
any way or no way, just as you please."'' 

Another trait of the governor's character was his fondness for exer- 
cising the ofiice of chancellor. The historian Smith says he " made a 
tolerable figure in the exercise of it, tho' he was no lawyer, and had 
a foible very unsuitable for a judge, I mean his resohdug too speedily, 
for he used to say of himself, 'I act first, and think afterwai-ds'";^ 
or, as he put it on another occasion : " I am inclined to believe as I 
wish." ^ Two cases which came before him as chancellor were partly 
instrumental in causing his removal. The French congregation, 
" L'Eglise du Saint Esprit,"'^ worshiped in a stone building fifty by 
seventy-seven feet, erected in 1704, in Pine street. The congregation 
was large and flourishing; the Rev. Louis Rou was called to the pas- 
torate about 1710, and as the church increased the Rev. J. J. Moulinars 
was called as his colleague. In the fall of 1724 the consistory of the 
church dismissed Mr. Rou, iu the interest of Mr. Moulinars. Mr. Rou 
and a large number of the church members protested, and Ijrought 
the matter before the council, who, after a hearing, decided that the 
dismissal was irregular and unlawful, Ijut advised the congregation 
to adjust their difi'ei'ences amicably. As the consistory refused to re- 
instate Mr. Rou, he filed a bill in chancery to compel them to produce 
then- contract with him ; the consistory pleaded to the jui'isdiction 
of the court, which plea the governor overruled. As Rou, a scholarly 

1 "New- York Documentary History" (4to ed.), 3 Hutchinson's "Massachusetts," 2 : 32. 
3 : 290, 291. Benedict, in " mstory of tiie Baptists " 1 Smith's "New-York," p. 201. 
(Boston, 1813), 1 : 537. is in error in saying that » Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 703. 

Burnet witnessed the baptism of Eyers in 171-1 ; 6 For illustration of the church, see Chapter II. 
Governor Hunter is meant. Editor. 

2 Belknap's " New Hampshire," 3 : 75. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WTLLLVM BURNET 173 

mau, was known to be on intimate terms with Burnet, and as the 
decision just given indicated what the tinal deci-ee would be, the dis- 
satisfied party dropped the suit, reinstated Mr. Eou, and left the 
church.' They were thereafter enemies of the governor. Among 
them was Stephen Do Lancey, one of the most influential men in the 
province. The other suit was on a bill in chancery filed by Adolph 
Philipse, in relation to a suit at common law brought against him by 
the widow of one Codringtone, his former partner, on a bond for fif- 
teen hundred pounds. The governor dismissed the bill, and left Mr. 
Philipse to make his defense at law as best he could.- 

Wheu the legislature met in September, 1725, Governor Burnet 
found that Adolph Philipse was elected speaker, and that Stephen 
De Lancey was one of the new members, of whom several had been 
chosen to fill vacancies. With a deplorable lack of judgment, Mr. 
Burnet allowed his resentment to take an unjustifiable turn, for when 
Mr. De Lancey presented himself to be sworn in, the governor ques- 
tioned his citizenship, and declined to admit him until he had 
consulted Chief Justice Lewis Morris. On further reflection and 
consultation with friends, the governor perceived his error, and wrote 
to the assembly, saying that he left the matter entirely with them 
— where, indeed, it properly and exclusively belonged. Mr. De Lancey 
had been denizened in this province in 1686, and had sat in the 
council and in the assembly for nearly twenty years. It was the 
height of folly for the governor to raise a question as to his right to 
sit in the assembly now.-' Thenceforth the whole De Lancey interest, 
thus twice antagonized by the governor, was bent on his removal. 
Although the assembly declared their readiness to meet all demands, 
.they had their own ideas of what ought to be done. As a punish- 
ment for Chief Justice Morris, who was a member of the house, in 
advising against Mr. De Lancey's right to sit, they proposed to reduce 
his salary one hundred pounds, and to abolish the office of second judge, 
giving Morris more work,^ and in other ways they manifested a dispo- 
sition to break with the governor. After sitting five or six weeks they 
were adjourned till the ensuing spring. At this session the assembly 
persisted in making an appropriation for only three years, instead of 
for five, as formerly, and as the governor urged upon them ; so he 
dissolved them, after an existence of eleven years.' The new assem- 
bly, which met on September 27, 1726, was not a whit more favorable 
to the administration ; it promptly affirmed the ^iews of its prede- 

1 X. Y. Doc. Hist. (4to ed.). 3 : 281 -290 ; Smith's members of the consistory when the contract was 

New -York, pp. 222. 223 ; X. Y. Hist. Soc. OoU.. 1868, made, and knew all about it. 
pp. 207-9. Dr. Golden says that in the answer filed =X. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.. 1868, pp, 212, 213. 

by the consistory they swore that they had no SSniith's New-York, pp. 223, 224: Doc, rel. Col, 

kiiowledge of such a contract, but they afterward Hist. X.Y.. 5 : 769 : X. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868^ pp, 

admitted that they meant this to be imderstood 210, 211. ■» Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 769. 

of them as a body, for some of them had been 5 Journal Legislative Council, 1 : 537. 



174 HISTOEY OF NEW- YORK 

cessoi- as to tlie sufficiency of the revenue and the propriety of 
reducing salaries — which the governor disregarded. However, they 
sustained his Indian policy, and authorized him to build a fort and 
lodge twenty soldiers in it at the mouth of the Onondaga River, and 
then he adjourned them until spring. He lost no time in taking ad- 
vantage of the act just mentioned, but sent out workmen to build a 
stone fortress, with walls four feet thick, at Oswego, with sixty sol- 
diers. There were already there about two hundred traders — so 
rapidly had the business grown under his wise management. The 
assembly voted three hundred pounds for the pm*pose, but he ex- 
pended twice that sum out of his own pocket, so anxious was he to 
have his plan carried out.' In the summer of 1725 fifty-seven canoes 
went there, and returned with seven hundred and thirty-eight packs 
of beaver- and deer-skins. The French were alarmed, and erected a 
fort at Niagara, and at the same time demanded that the English 
abandon their fort at Oswego.- 

Ou the accession of King George II., Burnet oi'dered the election 
of a new assembly, which met on September 30, 1727. It went 
through its business with little trouble, and adjourned on November 
25, 1727, having sat less than half the time since the session opened. 
Everything moved along smoothly, and the acts passed were pub- 
lished with the usual solemnity on the last day of the session. Now 
his enemies sprung their mine. They knew that he was to be re- 
moved,^ and, the business of the session being ended, the assembly 
adopted a series of scathing resolutions, denouncing the court of 
chancery as set up by the governor : that it rendered " the Libertys 
and properties of the Subjects extreamly Precarious, and that by the 
violent measures taken in & allowed by it some have been ruined, 
others obliged to abandon the Colony and many restrained in it either 
by Imprisonment or by excessive bail Exacted from them not to 
depart"; also that the court should not have been set up without 
the consent of the assembly, and that that body proposed at their 
next sitting to pass an act declaring all acts, decrees, and proceedings 
of the court null and void. It was five years since Burnet had caused 
Philipse to be removed from the council ; it was two years since he 
had insulted De Lancey by questioning his citizenship ; ■* it was two 
years, likewise, since he had dismissed Philipse's bill in chancery. 
Their turn had come at last, and the governor found himself in a 
hopeless minority. With unwise but not unreasonable indignation, 
he dissolved the assembly which had thus heaped contumely upon 

1 Journal Legislative CouiicU, 1 : 541, 554; Doc. had been appointed governor on August 12. 1727. 

rel. Col. Hist. N. Y. , 5 : 812, 813, 818. 879. Doc. rel. Col. Hist. N. Y., 5 : 823. 

- Smith's New York. pp. 228, 229. * De Lancey was a merchant, and interested in 

3 Colonel John Montgomerie, the groom of the defeating the governor's Indian policy, N. Y. 

chambers to George II. while Prince of Wales, Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, p. 220. 



THE .\DMINISTKATION OF WILLIAM BURNET 



175 



him in his person as ehaneelloi'.' Sensitive as he was, and having 
much self-complacency, this action of the assembly stung him to the 
quick, the more so that it was grossly unjust. 

Moreover, this blow came at a time when he was suffering the sever- 
est domestic aflaictions. On the morning of August 7, 1727, Mrs. 
Burnet presented him with a son;- but the joy of the household was 
soon changed to mourning, and 



tai 









mother and child were laid to- 
gether in the chapel within the 
old fort. He made his will at 
this time, dated at New- York, 
September 6, 1727, in which he 
directs that his body " be bm-ied 
at the Chapel of the Fort at 
New- York, near to my dearest 
wife Mary and one of my chil- 
dre;i, in a vault prepared for 
them, in case I die in the Prov- 
ince of New-York. But if I die 
elsewhere, in the nearest church 
or bm-ying gi'ound, or in the sea, 
if I should die there, well know- 
ing that all places are alike to 
God's AU-Seeing Eye."^' 

Writing home to the lords of 
trade, under date of August 26, 
he solicits their favor with the 
new king for his continuance in 
his governments of New-York 
and New Jersey, on the score of his faithful and efficient ser\ace. 
But his enemies were numerous and powerful, which made it easy 
for the king to consent readily to let his friend and former groom 
of the bed-chamber, John Montgomerie, have his wish when he 




1 Journal Legislative CouncU, 1 : 5(i2 ; N. T. 
Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, p, 212; Doc. rel. Col. ffist. 
X. Y.. 5 : 847, 848, 

2 Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS.. 2 : 487. 

3 N. Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record. 
6 ; 6 ; Historical Magazine. April. 1865, p. 129. 
Mrs. Burnet's funeral sermon was preached in the 
chapel in the fort, hy the Rev. Mr. Oruni, whose 
MS. fails to give the date. (Hist. Mag., December, 
1864, p. 3H8.J The wiU names •'my children Wil- 
liam, Thomas and Mary," hy late wife " Mary Van- 
home,'' and appoints Abraham Van Home and 
Mai-y Van Horne his wife Executors. The will was 
proved at Boston September 25, 1729, where Abra- 
ham Van Home, his executor, filed the inventory 
of his estate on October 13, 1729, amounting to 



£4540 4s. ."il^d- The daughter Mary married 
William Brown, of Beverly, Mass.. and had issue 
William Burnet Brown, who settled in Virginia. 
In Abraham Van Home's will, dated December 
27, 1740, only two of the govemor's children are 
named. (lb., January. 1865, p. 34 ; Api-U. 1865. p. 
129 ; N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, 6 : 6. i William 
Brown married. 2d. Mary, daughter of Philip 
French, of Xew Brunswick, N. J.; he died April 
27, 1763. (Duer's " Life of Lord Stirling^" p. 3, 
note. ) Governor Jonathan Belcher, who succeeded 
Burnet in Massachusetts, tried to get the legis- 
lature to vote to his children the salary (at the 
rate of £1000) which they had withheld from the 
governor. Wynne. 1 : 153. 



176 HISTORY OF NEW-YORK 

made choice of the government of New- York. Mr. Burnet felt a 
natural resentment at being thus removed, and his friends inter- 
ceded with the queen in his behalf, Init she replied with courtly 
politeness that the king thought it ueeessaiy to appoint a man of 
Governor Burnet's abilities to manage the trou^blesome people of 
Massachusetts, and as the king's service required the sacrifice, any 
loss resulting therefrom would be made good. So he reluctantly 
accejited the new position. He continued to attend to the duties of 
his office faithfully, iiromptly, and without a word of complaint, while 
he waited patiently for the arrival of his successor; and when Colonel 
Montgomerie landed at New-York on April 15, 1728, Governor Burnet 
tendered him the hospitalities of his mansion in the fort; and although 
his courtesy was not accepted, he does not appear to have shown any 
ill-will.' Soon after, he departed from New-Yoi'k to assume his new 
government in Massachusetts. In doing so he was burdened with an 
instruction to insist ujjon the assembly of that province making an 
appropriation for at least five years for the support of the govern- 
ment ; - this led to constant differences between him and that body, 
which were ended by his death at Boston, on September 7, 1729, 
caused by his taking cold from the overturning of his carriage upon 
the causeway at Cambridge, the tide being high and he falling into 
the water.-' Burnet was but forty-one years old. 

Said a writer in 1725 : " Never a Country was happyer of a Gov- 
ernor than these Provinces are of him. He is Not only a Learned 
Man But one that has a peculiar Talent of Eloquence & good Humour 
Suitable to his Learning he is a Man of great generosity Supplying 
the necessitous and Distributing his Justice Equally to great and 
Small. He is one who has at heart the promoting the welfare of these 
provinces."^ Says Smith: "We never had a Governor to whom the 
colony is so much indebted as to him. . . . The excessive love of 
money, a disease common to all his predecessors, and to some who 
succeeded him, was a vice from which he was entirely free. He sold 
no offices, nor attempted to raise a fortune by indirect means; for he 
lived generously, and carried scarce anything away with him, but his 
books. These and the conversation of men of letters were to him in- 
exhaustible sources of delight."^ The judicial Grahame speaks of him 

IDoc. rel. Col. Hist. N. T.. 5: 855, 85C, 858, 870, (Hist. Mag.. December, ISM. p. 398.) In aocor- 

871; N.Y.Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, pp. 219, 226. dance with the directions in his ■n-ill, his son Gilbert 

2 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll.. 1868, pp. 217-19. (" a lively youth about fifteen ''), by his first wife, 

3 Hutchinson's " Massachusetts," 2 : 364. *' He was sent from Boston to his aunt Mary, wife of 
was conducted to the grave with the respectful David Mitchell, in England. It was said that he 
solemnity of a public funeral, and with demonstra- was well provided for by Bishop Burnet's will, 
tions of esteem creditable alike to the liberality The other children were brought from Boston to 
of those who entertained this sentiment, and to New- York by their grandfather, Abraham Van 
the merit of the individual who inspired it." Home. N. J. Archives, 5 : 261 ; N. Y. Gen. and 
(Grahame's "United States," 3: 124.) The funeral Biog. Record. 6: 6. 

sermon was preached in the King's Chapel, Bos- 4 N. J. Archives, 5 : 100. 

ton, September 12, 1727, by the Rev, Mr. Price. 5 Smith's "New-York," p. 231. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF WTXLIAM BUENET 177 

tlius: "He labored with equal wisdom aud assiduity to promote the 
welfare of the provdut'e, aud cultivated the favor of the people with a 
success which ouly the clamors and intrigues of an interested faction 
prevented from being as entire and immediate as it proved lasting and 
honorable. Though in the close of his administration his popularity 
was eclipsed by the artifices of those who opposed his views, the tes- 
timony that farther experience afforded to the tendency of these 
views to promote the general good gained him a time-honored name, 
and a reputation coequal with his deserts; and more than twenty 
years after his death, the Swedish philosopher, Kalm, during his 
travels in America, hoard Burnet's worth commemorated with grate- 
ful praise by his people, who lamented him as the l>est governor they 
had ever obeyed." ^ Writing thirty years after his death, Dr. Golden 
says of him: " He studied the true interest of the province more than 
any before him or any since. No instance can be given of oppression 
in any shape. No man was more free from Avarice. He was gener- 
ous to a degree so far that if he erred it was in not takeing sufficient 
care of his private interest. He expended yearly considerable sums 
in private charitie, which he managed so that none knew of them 
more than what could not be avoided and thereby in some degree 
doubled the charitie to many who received it."" James Alexander 
was greatly overcome by the intelligence of the govern(.)r's death. 
" The death of Mr. Burnet," he writes to ex-Governor Hunter, " gave 
me the greatest grief & concern of anything I have met with, the 
world Loses therby one of the best of men, & I in particular a most 
Sincere friend & one to whom I Lay under the greatest of Obligations 
he was a man who bating warmth was almost without a fault & that 
by degi-ees he became nearer & nearer Master of & in time had he 
lived would probably have been entirely so." ■' Re\newing his career, 
after the lapse of more than a century and a half, the impartial stu- 
dent of that period will, we think, accept as just these tributes of his 
contemporaries to the character of Governor William Burnet. 



MAYORS OF NEW -YORK. 



Robert Walters was mayor in 1720 - 1725. Early in life he came to New-York 
and engaged in mercantile piu'suits. He was an Englishman by birth, and married a 
daughter of Jacob Leisler. At fli-st the inheritance fi-om her father was confiscated, 
but, beiug subsequently restored, it added materially to her husband's fortune. Be- 
sides the mayoralty Mr. Walters held several offices of distinction and tnist in the 
province, as appears fi-om the course of this history. 

1 Grahame's United States, 3 : 96. 2 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1868, p. 216. 3 N. J. Archives, 5 : 271. 
Vol. n.— 12. 



178 HISTORY OF NEW- YORK 



-y 




JoHAN'NES Jansen was mayor in 1725. This name is again Dutch; and while nu- 
merous branches of this family changed its orthography to an Enghsh one, or adopted 
as patronymics distinguishing titles derived from residence or 
„ from some other cii-eumstance, the mayor branch retained the 

ICJiLb ancient form. He was a merchant. His residence being iu 
the South Ward, he represented this in the comiuon council as 
alderman for nine years, from 1704 to 1706, and from 1713 to 1718. The population 
diu-ing his tenn had advanced to 7500 souls. 

Robert Lceting was mayor for nine j^ears, from 1726 to 1735. Com m encing under 
Governor Burnet, his term extended through the whole of that of Montgomerie and to 
the last year of that of Cosby. He was the founder of that name in America, having 
been bom in England, and having settled Ln New-Y"ork in early life, not far from the 
close of the seventeenth centui-y. He maiTied the widow of a lich merchant, Richard 
Jones, by which his fortune was largely increased. Beginning in a humble way with 
sloops and voyages on the Hudson and adjacent inland waters, he expanded his enter- 
prises till they embraced foreign ports and required large merchant ships for the trans- 
porting of his merchandise. At the same time Mr. Liu"ting undertook various public 
duties. He was at this time a militia captain (but later rose to the rank of colonel) ; 
and put liis mercantile training to good mUitaty use as a commissioner for the com- 
missary department in the fruitless Canadian campaign of 1709-1710. He served at 
diiferent period.? as assistant aldennan and alderman for the South Ward, the Dock 
Ward, and the East Ward respectively, indicating several changes of i-esidence. He 
was vendue-master for many years, his function giving him supervision over auctions. 
It was during his term, as will be noticed at some length in the succeeding chapter, 
that occurred the important event of the gi-anting of the Montgomerie charter in 1731. 
He died while iu oiSce, in July, 1735, after a prolonged illness. The city had now 
reached 8000 inhabitants. 



7o^' 



